Man appears in court over alleged plot to kill British PM

LONDON: A man appeared in a London court on Wednesday accused of being in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Theresa May

Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman, 20, was remanded in custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

He is accused of plotting to kill May by planting an improvised bomb at the entrance to Downing Street.

Prosecutor Mark Carroll told the court Rahman planned to detonate an explosive device at the gates of Downing Street and gain access to May’s office in the ensuing chaos and kill her, Reuters reported.

“The secondary attack was to be carried out with a suicide vest, pepper spray and a knife,” he told the court. “His purpose was to attack, kill and cause explosions,” Carroll said.

Rahman appeared with 21-yearold Mohammed Imran, from Birmingham, who was also charged with preparing to commit acts of terrorism.

Imran was accused of trying to join Daesh in Libya, the prosecutor alleged.

Both men were arrested on Nov. 28 in Birmingham by counter-terror officers.

The court appearance came a day after Home Secretary Amber Rudd told Parliament that 22 terror plots by extremists had been thwarted since the killing of a British soldier on a London street by two extremists in 2013, AFP reported.

Downing Street was targeted by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1991 when a mortar bomb attack was launched. Nobody was injured during that attack.

Downing Street was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Arab News.